


The Fall of Kim Sunggyu

by gogyuma



Category: Infinite (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-20
Updated: 2016-12-20
Packaged: 2018-09-07 05:26:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,569
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8784949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gogyuma/pseuds/gogyuma
Summary: Kim Sunggyu believes if he manages to solve the important case on his hands, he’ll finally get to the top of the ladder to become chief of the precinct, his journey not without sacrifices he hides in the depths of his mind. What he doesn’t know, however; is that what goes up, must come down — and it all starts with the reappearance of Lee Sungyeol.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts).



Sunggyu buried his head in his hands, staring blankly at the coffee-stained papers strewn out across his desk. It’s been months since he has been on this case, and sometimes he feels like he’s gotten nowhere since he started. The thought of sitting in the captain’s spot soon gave him motivation though, as it always had, and with a deep sigh he attempted to organize the papers into (at least some) order. Just then, someone burst in through the door of his office, the noise startling him.

 

“Sergeant Jang you better have some breaking news for me.”

 

“I do, Lieutenant Kim!” At that, Sunggyu looked at the other with an eyebrow raised. “We’ve finally identified who the leader of the Korean branch of the Black Dragon Cartel is.”

 

“Well, what are you waiting for? Hand me the folder,” Sunggyu commanded, hand outstretched and clearly impatient.

 

“Well…. um…” Dongwoo’s demeanour suddenly turned from excited to hesitant.

 

“Dongwoo. Give me the folder.”

 

“You’re not gonna like it…” Dongwoo reluctantly handed over the folder containing information on the suspect to Sunggyu, who immediately lay it on his desk and flipped it open.

 

“…”

 

“Sunggyu-hyung, are you okay?” Sunggyu, however, didn’t have time to berate Dongwoo on not using proper titles as he stared intently at the photo that was placed on top of the papers in the folder.

 

“Lee Sungyeol,” was just a whisper as the name left the Lieutenant’s mouth.

 

——

“I think you should stop drinking.”

 

“Shut up.”

 

“Hyung, seriously, I don’t want to deal with your hungover self tomorrow morning. Your normal grumpy morning self is already a pain to deal with.”

 

“Lee Howon, I am your superior!”

 

“But we’re not at work.”

 

“… Right.” Sunggyu downed another shot of soju before setting the glass back on the table. He stared silently at the bottom of the empty glass, wondering how many more shots he would need to take before he could finally rid the image of a certain someone from his mind.

 

“Sunggyu-hyung are you okay?” It was Dongwoo this time, with his hand comfortingly on his forearm. Sunggyu gave a small smile in return, one which Dongwoo could see right through.

 

“Don't worry. I won’t let this affect my work.”

 

“I wasn’t talking about that, hyung,” Dongwoo sighed, “You’re too invested in your job all the time. Maybe you should take a day or two off.” 

 

“I said I’m _fine_ , Dongwoo,” Sunggyu retorted, his tone signalling that it was the end of that conversation.

 

“You sure that this won’t be a conflict of interest, though?” Howon asked, earning him a _you’re not helping_ look from Dongwoo, to which Howon shrugged in response.

 

“What conflict of interest? Sungyeol and I broke up years ago and I haven’t seen or talked to him since. He’s practically a stranger now.” Sunggyu punctuated his statement with another shot of soju. “Anyway, I’ll find him. I’ll make sure I do.”

 

——

 

Sunggyu had spent most of the morning mulling over all the information the police had on Lee Sungyeol, which unfortunately wasn’t much. All he knew was that Sungyeol had taken over as the leader of the Korean branch of the cartel just a few months ago. He was interrupted from his thoughts by a knock on the door, as Sungjong peeked his head in.

 

“What is it, Detective Lee?”

 

“There’s some interesting info that has come in. We’re asked to all meet in the Captain’s office.”

 

——

 

“Okay so,” Sungjong started, “this morning, a pawn shop in Mapo was robbed.”

 

“Detective Lee, I’m pretty sure that is a case that can be handed to the unit in that district.”

 

“Well, actually, this case has something to do with the case we’re following.”

 

“You mean Lee Sungyeol?” Dongwoo asked.

 

“Yep.” Sungjong lay a photo of a screenshot taken from the security footage from the pawn shop onto the desk of the Captain. “Security cameras of the bank across the street caught who the thief was as he was leaving the shop. We ran it through facial recognition and got a hit.” Sungjong then lay down the profile of the man that presumably robbed the pawn shop. “Meet Cha Hakyeon. He’s been arrested a few times for petty crimes, but our intel tells us that he’s also part of the Black Dragon Cartel.”

 

“Do you think Sungyeol hired him to rob the shop?” Sunggyu winced at the familiarity with which he said his name, internally berating himself to not slip up again.

 

“We won’t know until we can catch him to interrogate him. Problem is, he’s in the wind.”

 

“Sunggyu, go with Dongwoo to the pawn shop to talk to the owner,” Captain Lee Jungyeop ordered.

 

“Yes, sir.”

 

——

 

“What did the thief steal?” Sunggyu was asking the pawn shop owner questions while Dongwoo wrote everything down in his notebook.

 

“Just a camera. A digital one.”

 

“Just a camera and nothing else?” Dongwoo asked incredulously.

 

“Well, if it was planned by—“ Sunggyu hesitated a bit to say the name, “Sungyeol, then the thief was probably targeting one item, not to get money. But the question now is, why the camera?”

 

“Did you notice anything special about the camera when it was brought to the store?” Sunggyu pressed on.

 

“No, it was just a regular digital camera.”

 

“What about the person that brought it to you?” Dongwoo interjected.

 

“Sorry, we don’t have records as to who brings us items. You bring in an item, and if we think it’s valuable, we buy it off of you. But I can get you what records we have on the camera itself.” The owner opened a cabinet and began to leaf through the files inside.

 

“Yes, that would be great, thank you.”

 

——

 

That night, Sunggyu got back to his apartment, exhausted both mentally and physically. He certainly did not expect Lee Sungyeol to just pop back up into his life all of a sudden, especially not after what happened 6 years ago. Sunggyu shook his head tiredly as he flopped unceremoniously onto his bed. He turned his head to look at the alarm clock on his night table (it was 7:22PM), but the corner of a worn box in his closet caught his eye, shoved carelessly into the corner on the top shelf. Sunggyu hesitated for a moment before a feeling of nostalgia overtook him, and he found himself reaching up and bringing the shoebox down from where it was collecting dust. He blew the dust off the lid, the Nike logo just a faint print now, and set it down on the bed as he sat down beside it.

 

Sunggyu took a deep breath before lifting the lid to the shoebox, and his heart ached as he was met with stacks of old polaroid photos. They were photos of Sunggyu and his ex-boyfriend: Lee Sungyeol. His fingers trembled as he picked up the photo at the top of the stack, a sad smile forming on his face as he reminisced about the past memories he tried so hard to forget. He then picked up the watch that sat within the stacks of photos, and his heart ached as he remembered the day he and Sungyeol stopped by a watch shop to buy matching watches. He turned it over to read the engraving he still had memorized in his head. _Forever together._

 

Before he knew it, Sunggyu was reaching for his phone, muscle memory leading him to dial a very familiar number. A long moment of silence ensued as he held his breath. _Shit, this was a bad idea._ Sunggyu was just about to hang up on the call when an unfamiliar (automated) voice resounded through his phone.

 

_“The number you have called is no longer in use. Please check the number you are calling and dial again.”_

 

Sunggyu let out a sigh: a sigh of relief, but also disappointment. What was he thinking? The case, yes. He just wanted to solve the case so he can be promoted to Captain. That was all. _That. Was. All._

 

——

“That pawn shop owner yesterday was no help. No help at all,” Sunggyu said with a frown as he, along with Dongwoo and Howon, stood in an elevator that was heading up to the 25th floor of the Sejong Hotel. Sungjong, without much digging around, had managed to find a hotel reservation under the name of the thief ( _This thief sucks at staying under the radar,_ Sunggyu thought to himself).

 

“He did what he could to help us,” Dongwoo supplied helpfully.

 

“Yeah but he just wrote ‘silver digital camera’ in the records.”

 

_Ding_. The conversation was interrupted by the arrival of the elevator to the 25th floor. The trio walked down the hall to the last room at the end. Sunggyu knocked on the door, announcing the arrival of the police, “Cha Hakeyon, this is the police. Open the door immediately.”

 

After not receiving an answer, Sunggyu motioned for Howon to open the door using the card key supplied by the hotel’s staff. The door opened to a silent room, and the three entered, each having a hand on their gun holster and eyes scanning for any sign of danger.

 

“All clear,” Dongwoo called after checking in the bathroom.

 

“Looks like he fled out the window,” Howon remarked, pointing to the open window and the long rope that led out of it. “Tire marks on the pavement. He’s probably long gone now.”

 

“He forgot a little something though.” Howon and Dongwoo turned to see Sunggyu pointing at an object laying on the hotel room desk.

 

_A silver digital camera._

 

——

 

“I wonder why Cha Hakyeon left the camera in the hotel room. Didn’t he steal it because he wanted something in it?” Sungjong asked as Sunggyu worked on connecting the camera to the main computer. All four of them turned to stare at the big screen.

 

“Maybe he already took what he needed?” Dongwoo supplied hopefully. “Perhaps there was some evidence on it and he deleted it all.”

 

“I guess we’ll find out… right about now,” Sunggyu said as he plugged in the camera to the computer and clicked on the folder containing the pictures. However, the pictures that popped up were not what they had expected. 

 

“Vacation photos…..” Howon muttered out loud to no one in particular. Indeed, the pictures that were on the camera were all typical vacation photos of the landscape and city views around Seoul. There was not a single suspicious thing about them, and that left the four very confused.

 

“Perhaps Cha Hakyeon del—“ Sunggyu was interrupted the computer emitted a loud beep and the screen went black.

 

“What happened?” Sungjong asked, the panic noticeable in his voice. 

 

However, his question was answered when a video popped up in place of the dark screen. The familiar voice and the face that came into view sent chills down Sunggyu’s spine, “Hey Sunggyu. Remember me?”

 

“What the fuck? It’s Lee Sungyeol!” It was Howon that spoke up first, startling the others with his loud voice. No one dared to speak as Sungyeol spoke up again in the video.

 

“I know you’re looking for me,” Sungyeol said. “But it ain’t gonna be that easy. I must applaud you for finding Cha Hakyeon, but you're gonna have to try a lot harder to get to me.” The laugh that followed, which used to light up Sunggyu's day years ago, now only gave him an intense feeling of uneasiness. _Damn, he’s playing us._

 

“He must have done something to the camera,” Sunggyu stared at the screen with a hardened gaze."He knew we would find it. Find out what he did. NOW.”

 

——

 

It was late into the night now, but Sunggyu was still sitting in his office with a blank look on his face and slumped in his chair. He was internally thankful that it wasn’t possible to replay the video (he laughed darkly at how it was probably thanks to Sungyeol at that, in some weird, twisted way). If he had a copy of the video on his laptop, he’d probably be replaying it over and over again until he had memorized every second of it. Sunggyu closed his eyes, and was amused by the fact that the image Sungyeol’s face was still crisp in his mind. After all, he did use to spend many hours simply staring at the other’s face.

 

Six years ago:

 

_“What the fuck did you do, Sunggyu.”_

 

_“I didn't do anything,” Sunggyu said as he avoided looking Sungyeol in the eye._

 

_“Then why did the captain tell me that he’s taking back my promotion?” Sunggyu could tell that Sungyeol was fuming, and flinched when he heard everything on his desk being shoved onto the ground._

 

_“That’s his decision. How am I supposed to know what he’s thinking?” Sunggyu managed to utter out calmly. He snuck a peek at the other when all he heard was silence, only to be met with a blank look he’s never seen on Sungyeol’s face before._

 

_“I’ve known you for years Sunggyu. You never could look me in the eye whenever you lied.” When Sungyeol didn’t hear a response from Sunggyu he continued, “The fact that he’s promoting you instead tells me everything.” Sungyeol turned around to leave, but not before saying one more thing, “I should have known that you’d never change.”_

 

_That was the last time Sunggyu saw or heard from Sungyeol. That is, until now._

_——_

 

Sunggyu and his team followed a few more leads in the days following the camera incident, but it seemed that Sungyeol, or someone related to him, always got away just in time. It obviously left Sunggyu extremely frustrated, as he was used to excelling in his job. It also didn’t sit right with him, the fact that it was Sungyeol that kept outsmarting him.

 

A week went by and Sunggyu paced around the station, their team having exhausted all their leads.

 

“Lieutenant Kim.” A voice interrupted his thoughts. It was Jung Eunji, one of the IT technicians that worked with the police force. “I apologize that it took so long, but we’ve finally figured out what’s up with the files found on the digital camera.”

 

“What did you find?”

 

“Lee Sungyeol had managed to install a particular virus within the files. I hate to say this, but he’s been spying on your computer system the past week. Don’t worry though, my team and I have successfully removed all traces of the virus.”

 

_No wonder Sungyeol seemed to know our every move the past week… because he actually did_.

 

“Thank you for all your help, Eunji.”

 

_——_

 

Sunggyu led his team down the hall of the abandoned apartment complex until they got into a fork in the hallway. It had been weeks since the camera incident, but they had recently gotten some promising intel from an inside source that Sungyeol had been hiding out in this apartment complex. Hopefully this time, Sungyeol wouldn’t be able to see them coming.

 

“Howon, Dongwoo, check the units on the left. Sungjong, follow me to the right.”

 

“Yes sir!”

 

Sunggyu and Sungjong peered into the abandoned apartment units in the hallway, looking for any signs of Sungyeol.

 

“Lieutenant Kim, this unit seems suspicious.” Sunggyu walked over to the unit Sungjong was peering into, spotting the faint footprints left in the dust Sungjong was talking to. He was about to follow the other in when he spotted something gleaming at the threshold of the unit next door. Sunggyu unconsciously walked closer to the object until he was close enough to determine that it was a watch — a very familiar watch, so familiar in fact that he had a matching one sitting in the shoebox he kept in hidden in the darkest corner of his closet. Sunggyu turned it over and sure enough, _Forever together_ was engraved on the back.

 

“Congrats, looks like you finally found me, _Lieutenant Kim_.”

 

Sunggyu looked up, startled, to see none other than Lee Sungyeol standing in the middle of the empty apartment unit, still looking as attractive as he did 6 years ago despite the dim lighting. Indeed, Sunggyu finally found him, but something told him that this time Sungyeol had actually planned to be found.

 

“Sungyeol,” was all Sunggyu managed to utter out.

 

“What?” Sungyeol smirked, “So happy to see me that you’re speechless?”

 

“Fuck you, Lee Sungyeol.”

 

“Hm. Still as aggressive as ever I see,” Sungyeol said, still with that ever annoying smirk on his face. Suddenly, he whipped out a gun from behind his back, pointing it at Sunggyu. Sunggyu’s reflexes still seemed to work in this situation as he whipped out his own gun from his belt. “But you see, since you’ve managed to find me, _I’ll have to kill you, don’t I?_ ”

 

“Let’s see who kills who first.”

 

“Oh, by all means go ahead and do it. Will you actually be able to pull the trigger though?” Sungyeol spoke up, finger still on the trigger and gun still pointed at Sunggyu. “I’d like to see what you’re willing to give up to get the things you want. Wouldn’t be the first time you did something of that nature, now would it?”

 

Sunggyu, on the other hand, couldn’t bring himself to pull the trigger. Sungyeol was right. Six years ago he gave up his relationship with Sungyeol just so he could be promoted to Lieutenant instead of him. Six years ago he sacrificed the person he supposedly loved to climb one more step on the ladder closer to his goal. Would he be able to do it yet again?

 

“Lieutenant Kim?” Sunggyu was snapped from his thoughts by Sungjong’s voice. He turned his head in the direction of the voice, but that one moment of distraction was enough for Sungyeol to have disappeared by the time Sunggyu whipped his head back in his direciton, the breeze coming in through the now open window the only thing he left in his wake.

 

_——_

 

Sunggyu was in his office, desperately going over all the files he had so he could find out where Sungyeol had ran off to. He couldn’t let him get away again. Not this time. He was interrupted from his search by a knock at his door.

 

“Um.” Dongwoo looked nervous but Sunggyu just gave him a hard stare, urging him to spit out what he had to say. “People from the Narcotics Division are here to see you.”

 

“Why the hell are they here?” Sunggyu asked as he got up from his seat, to which Dongwoo just gave a shrug as he followed Sunggyu towards the main foyer. There, Sunggyu was met with a man with black hair and a sharp nose, slightly shorter than him, as well as another with dark eyes and tall stature.

 

“Nam Woohyun,” the shorter of the two introduced himself. “I’m the head of the Seoul Narcotics Division.” Sunggyu couldn’t help but frown at how someone who was seemingly younger than him could hold such a high position already. He tried his best to swallow down the ugly feeling that he denied was jealousy. “This is Kim Myungsoo,” Woohyun said as he gestured to the man next to him. “We are here to inform you that we are taking the Lee Sungyeol case off your hands now.”

 

“What?” Sunggyu exclaimed, “You can’t just take away a case I’ve been working on for a year!”

 

“I just did,” Woohyun said, with an air of finality in his voice. “I’m sure you would not be as stupid as to go against what the higher-ups have ordered, am I correct? Especially after you let a certain someone go yesterday.” Sunggyu could only glare in response as he inwardly cursed himself for writing that on his report. He wondered how the other found out. Sneaky little brat. Woohyun then motioned for Myungsoo to go into Sunggyu’s office to collect all the relevant files. As Woohyun’s team carried away all the files and evidence, Sunggyu watched with his fists clenched beside him. 

 

“You’re not going to stop investigating Lee Sungyeol, are you?” Howon said knowingly after they had all left.

 

“Damn right I’m not.” Sunggyu was glad that his constant backing up of all his files would finally come into use.

 

——

 

And so Sunggyu worked day and night, secretly reviewing files on Sungyeol’s case when his boss wasn’t at the station, and then continuously when he got back home. He followed every lead he could find. It took a week of losing sleep and numerous investigations, when the bags under his eyes were even noticed by Sungjong, that he finally got to a breakthrough. Sunggyu slammed his laptop shut and burst out of his office, bumping right into Dongwoo, who was about to knock on his door.

 

“Woah there, Lieutenant Kim, are you in a hurry to go somewhere?”

 

“Yeah,” Sunggyu said, before starting to walk away backwards, still facing Dongwoo. “Tell the Captain I’m going to take the rest of the day off as personal leave! I’m sure you and Howon can deal with anything that comes up!” Sunggyu was out the door before Dongwoo could get in a reply.

 

Sunggyu quickly got into his car, punching in certain coordinates he had written hastily on his hand just before leaving his office into the GPS. The place was about an hour’s drive away.

 

“Damn Lee Sungyeol, making me drive so far,” Sunggyu muttered as his foot hit the gas, his car speeding out of the police station’s parking lot with a loud screech.

 

——

 

The sun was setting by the time Sunggyu rolled up to the abandoned warehouse that his car’s GPS had led him to. He parked a ways away so that his car could be hidden, before getting off and walking towards the warehouse. Sunggyu cautiously kept his hand on his gun in case anything unexpected happened — which wouldn’t be a surprise since he was dealing with Lee Sungyeol. _He wouldn’t let him get away this time_.

 

Sunggyu climbed up a rusty ladder at the side of the warehouse that led up to an old, rusted metal door on the second floor. (He was smart enough not to just stroll in through the entrance.) He opened the door, careful not to let it creak. Sunggyu entered onto what seemed like a platform suspended above one of the main rooms of the warehouse. He took a careful peek below and found none other than Lee Sungyeol, but he was talking to — Sunggyu could barely hold in his gasp — the grand leader of the Black Dragon Cartel from Mexico. He strained to hear the conversation between the two, and even took out his phone (careful to hide the light emitting from it within his coat) to record it.

 

“I’ll have next month’s stocks ready for you at the harbour the first Saturday.” The leader’s English had a Spanish accent to it, but Sunggyu could still make out what he was saying.

 

“Thank you. Here’s the past month’s profits.” Sungyeol passed a large, black briefcase to the other.

 

“I guess I will see you again next month then. Good job.”

 

Just then, Sunggyu lost grip on his phone and it fell with a resounding clang onto the metal flooring of the platform. Sunggyu froze.

 

“Who is it?” The Mexican leader called out.

 

“Sir, please make your way into the back room. I’ve set up a backup plan in case the police find us.” Sungyeol spoke in a harsh whisper. The other followed his instructions and scurried off in the direction of the back room with his bodyguards. Sungyeol, on the other hand, stayed behind and used the flashlight on his phone to illuminate the upper platforms, the light stopping on the frozen Sunggyu above. Sunggyu tried his best to hide his surprise, instead giving a cold smirk to the other.

 

“Well, well, well, if it isn’t Kim Sunggyu.” The light of Sungyeol’s phone followed Sunggyu as he made his way down to where Sungyeol was. Once in front of the other, Sungyeol turned off his phone’s light, as the setting sun was enough to see. "Or should I say,  _Lieutenant_ Kim?"

 

“Well, well, well, if it isn’t Lee Sungyeol.” Sunggyu tried to mock the other to hide the plethora of emotions rising up within him.

 

“How’d you find me?”

 

“It took a while, but I finally found someone who knew something and slipped up.”

 

Sungyeol scoffed, “I’ll find that bastard and make him pay.”

 

“I’m afraid I’m not going to allow you to do that.”

 

“How would you do that? By killing me? You couldn’t even bring yourself to do that last time.” That last sentence by Sungyeol got Sunggyu all riled up, his hand migrating towards the gun in his holster.

 

“Bye, Gyu!” Sungyeol exclaimed cheerily before turning around walking away. Sunggyu was momentarily immobilized because that was the first time in 6 years he heard his nickname in that voice (That damn jerk probably knew he had this effect on him). Once he snapped out of it, Sungyeol was already a few feet away. Sunggyu knew that he just _could not_ let Sungyeol get away. Not this time. And so he swiftly removed his gun from his holster, aiming and putting his finger on the trigger—

 

“NO!” The sudden shout from behind Sunggyu caused him to flinch, and then everything seemingly happened in slow motion in front of him. First, he heard the gun shot; then, Sungyeol collapsing onto the ground. After, there were a couple of unidentifiable (to him at the moment) figures that were running towards Sungyeol, who was an unmoving heap on the ground. There were also members of the police force leading the Mexican drug cartel leader and his minions out from the back room. It was all too confusing to Sunggyu.

 

One of the figures crouched beside Sungyeol for a moment before getting up and taking angry strides towards Sunggyu. It wasn’t until the other was right in front of his face, yelling at him, that Sunggyu recognized who he was.

 

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” It was Nam Woohyun. “Did I not tell you that you were done with the case?”

 

“What?” was all Sunggyu could get out at the moment, too confused as to why _Nam Woohyun_ (and Kim Myungsoo, he now realized) were tending to Sungyeol and not congratulating _him_ for finally bringing down the enemy.

 

“You realize that you just shot an undercover secret agent, right?” Woohyun spat angrily.

 

“ _What?”_ Sunggyu could only repeat in his head.

 

“Gyu,” Sungyeol suddenly weakly called out. Sunggyu took a few hesitant steps towards the other, still under the heated glare of Woohyun. Sungyeol didn’t say anything else, but the look in his eyes said enough,

 

_“Am I good enough for you yet?”_

 

_You always were._

——

 

_One month later…_

 

Sunggyu was working in his office when Howon knocked on his door. 

 

“Come in.”

 

“The Captain wants to see you.”

 

Sunggyu groaned, burying his face in his hands. The Captain was the last person he wanted to see. He got up and brushed past Howon, stomping towards the Captain’s office. Sunggyu went against his first instinct to just kick open the door and instead knocked lightly. A soft _“Come in”_ resounded from inside the room, and Sunggyu stepped in, closing the door behind him.

 

“You wanted to see me, Captain Lee?”

 

“Yes. I have some work for you to do, Gyu.” Sungyeol replied with a smirk.

 

——

**Author's Note:**

> To my secret santee: I haven't really ever written in this genre before, but I tried my best and I hope you like it!
> 
> (I might write a Sungyeol POV version one day.)
> 
> Also, many of the ideas in this fic come from the TV show "Hawaii Five-0".


End file.
